Prince of DarkLand
by sylvia's wish
Summary: A story about Bowser's early days as a prince, during his incredibly messed up childhood. He will encounter many struggles, and deal with most other koopas having no faith in him. After all, this was back when nobody thought he would ever trump his big brother for the throne. T for language and probably violence later on.
1. The Birth of the Prince

_**Disclaimer: I don't Bowser, or any of the official Mario characters.**_

_Crack!_

The distinct sound of a splitting egg alerted everyone within the room.

Joyous roars of approval as well as whooping and hollering ensued.

But the two most proud figures in the room were the queen and king.

Morton Koopa and Lavisha Koopa.

Morton was a massive, dark brown and black koopa with an intimidating height and the sharpest claws of any koopa in the kingdom. Despite his usual death glare, today he looked loving and caring. A silver crown was adorned on his bald head.

Lavisha was a plump, heavy yellow-skinned koopa with an unruly, wiry, mess of a curly red mane. Her eyes were a shade of hazel that scorched as it stared, with its yellow, orange, and dark green flecks. Her dark red shell was huge and well-polished, as well as her heels. She had gold wristbands instead of the usual black handcuffs that koopas had. Atop her head was a gold crown, glistened with red rubies.

"Hes finally among us!" Lavisha cheered, scooping up the result of the broken egg.

It was a tiny koopa with a green head, a huge snout, yellow skin, a green shell, and beady black irises.

"Hes just too precious," a middle-aged female koopa in a purple robe agreed.

"Kammy is correct," Morton looked endearingly at his son, his usual dark aura replaced with fatherly pride. "Hes a bundle of joy, a little firecracker even."

"What should we name him?" Lavisha asked, peering down at him in wonder.

The infant prince sneezed, and the cute action caused everyone to 'awwww'. Excluding Morton, he wouldn't be caught dead letting out such a sound of adoration.

"We've been over this," Morton gave his wife a brief look of annoyance. "He is to be named the most monstrous name I could think of. Bruiser!"

"Bruiser?" She frowned. "Perhaps if he was brown like you, but he doesn't look like a 'Bruiser' to me."

"Being brown has nothing to do with a damn name," Morton huffed, steam rising from his snout.

"Tread with language caution, sire," A middle-aged koopa in a blue robe warned.

"Ah, shut it, Kamek!" Morton lashed out, fangs bared and spitting fiercely with each word. "I can use all the bad words as long as the little chump can't comprehend us yet."

The baby koopa blinked at the outburst, then sniffed sensitively.

"He might cry!" Lavisha gasped. "Poor thing, hes petrified at his brute of an 'ol daddy."

"Hmph," Morton suddenly darkened. "A softie at birth, huh? So far so bad."

Kamek, Kammy, and Lavisha all looked at him in shock. The rest of the room was unaffected, or rather, pretended to be interested in something else.

Everyone knew King Morton was a ruthless tyrant, but they'd all expected him to at least be easy on his second born son. But the staff was all too wise then to get caught him up in the royal family's drama, especially if Morton was involved.

"Where is my firstborn?" Morton growled loud enough for the entire room to hear, his soft fatherly attitude evaporated. "He has a say in the name as well."

"Fetch Waru!" Kamek called out, his voice thundering across the room enough for all to hear. "The young prince is to be brought here!"

Within minutes, the door burst open. In came a couple koopa workers escorting in Warutive Koopa.

Waru, for short, was a green koopa with a slick black mane. He had a yellow shell that had tiny spikes protruding all over it. His golden eyes that shone with great disdain. For a four year old, he walked with stupendous kingly demeanor, shoulders high, head lifted, glare as sharp as ever.

"Well?" Waru's voice was deep for a koopa his age, and filled with grueling iciness. "Wheres the little brat?"

Lavisha lifted the baby in her arms, and Waru let out a disdainful sniff.

"So this is the little snot, eh?" Waru let out a nasty, shriveled, laugh. "What a shrimp! He'll never reach my size."

"He'll catch up to you, if hes anything like his dad," Morton purred to his son, his deep tenor voice rumbling with affection. "Sixty coins says he'll be a great fighter, like all worthy koopas."

Of course Morton would value his species by their strength. Brutal fighting _was _his favorite pastime.

"I think he should be deemed, 'snot-nosed-worthless-puny-loser-butthead'," Waru sneered. "Has a nice ring to it doesn't it?"

"You have wondrous vocabulary for a young man your age, dearie," Lavisha spoke up. "But… I'm afraid the words you speak are quite… harsh. Please, respect your little brother. He should be your greatest friend in the world."

"Friend?" Waru's horror-stricken face said it all. "I'm going to _befriend _this poor excuse of a prince?"

"Eventually," Morton assured. "Surely you'll warm up to him if he becomes anywhere as good of a son as you, Waru the war mongler!"

Morton was the only one who pronounced Waru as 'wore-ooh', everyone else called him by 'warr-ooh' like 'War'io. He had named his son in hopes that he'd grow up to be a king of many battles, and so far, he did enjoy fighting greatly(much to his father's pleasure).

"I know!" Kamek piped up. "How about Flamer? He's as red as his mother, surely it should work?"

"Please!" Waru snorted. "That'll be a disappointment when he grows up to not have any fire-spewing abilities."

Morton chuckled and offered his son a high-five. "Nice one!"

Kammy rolled her eyes at the rude remark. Lavisha sent her a look of agreement, and Kamek looked noticeably uncomfortable at Morton's bad influence.

"Well, I think Flamer is a bit… uh, much," Lavisha went on. "I'd even take Bruiser over it."

Everyone who knew Lavisha knew how much she hated her own hair. She had been struck by lightning as a teen, losing her slick, silky, straight red hair and got it replaced with a mane of craziness. Her wild curls and tragic past gave her a bit of a mean edge at times.

Naming her son after an attribute she hated about herself was unlikely.

"Ah, of course your majesty," Kamek dipped his head in apology. "I don't know what came over me with that suggestion."

"I know!" A voice piped up. "How about Bowser?"

Everyone searched in every direction for the source of the faint voice. Then, a ghost appeared out of thin air. With his large, chubby, circular white body, large, gaping, pink tongue, as well as small gold crown, it was clear who the near transparent man was.

None other than the notoriously frightening King Boo.

"King Boo, your honor," Kamek bowed in respect as he floated over. "I must say that's a real dandy name."

"Hmm, it _is _pretty good of a name…" Morton tapped his chin in thought. "But then, whose in power around here? Me, or this fool of a dead spirit?"

This time Waru high-fived his father.

"Ah, King of the Koopas, still as edgy as ever I see," King Boo let out a good-natured laugh. "Good to know you still know how to put on a front. I remember how petrified you once were of me as a wee little koopa."

"My daddy isn't scared of anything!" Waru puffed out his chest in offense.

Morton barked at his son with great fierce, who flinched and looked scorned sadly. A koopa's ferocious bark was even more downright scary than their mighty roar. Coming from Morton of all koopas, it had enough scorn and venom to make one curl into a ball of cowardice for months.

"Never call me 'daddy'!" He roared, then turned to King Boo. "And as for you, stupid ghost bastard. Who even invited you to the birth of my son?!"

"Your lascivious bride, of course," King Boo countered, smoothly and effectively taunting. "Perhaps if you knew more about her well being, you would actually be aware your queen finds you lackluster and washed out like an old man!"

Gasps filled the room, and some koopas were smart enough to take their exit. Lavisha gulped and shrank back in fear, pacing a few steps away. She was too preoccupied with fear for her husband to have remorse or anger directed at King Boo.

Morton stood, seething with his fangs bared, as his dark aura returned larger than ever.

In fact, he _literally _had a shadowy black aura emitting from him. He slowly stomped over to King Boo, who met his death glare unabashed.

"You're calling _me_ an old man, you immensely stupid ghost?!" Morton malevolently hollered in King Boo's face. "I assure you, this 'old man' won't hold back from _slaughtering _you till the after-after-life."

Everyone else cleared back for good measure. Despite the fact the fact King Boo was deceased, he was _truly_ dead now that he had blatantly insulted King Morton right in his face.

"And _you_," Morton slowly turned to face his wife. "Don't think I'm oblivious. I'm more than aware I married a stinking, rotting, filthy, _gutterwhore_-"

More gasps filled the room. Lavisha fearfully clutched her youngest son tightly, who squealed ever so slightly. Kammy covered Waru's ears, who swatted her away briskly.

"But you _will _and you _shall _be turned into wife material," he advanced towards her threateningly, till their faces nearly touched. "Got that?"

Lavisha could only nod weakly, gulping in air as she panted heavily. The newborn koopa burst into sobbing.

Morton's expression turned into surprise briefly, then it washed over with even more anger.

"A _crybaby_," Morton's voice was low and sinister. "So that's what my son is, eh? Whats wrong, disappointed your mother is a feral, wild, king-hungry bitch?"

Lavisha cringed at the 'king-hungry' part. Morton slowly grabbed his son from her arms, and she didn't dare prevent them, though looked terrified for her son.

"Well then…" he softly spoke with uncharacteristic nurturing. "You and I are in the same boat. Welcome to the world, son."

The young baby slowly stopped crying, peering up at his father in curiosity. The dark aura of his was finally diminished. His gold eyes shone fondly, one silver star concealing one of them.

Everyone else was simply shocked. _The _King Morton Koopa displaying affection? Even more so stunning, was that it came right after that little blowout.

"I suppose everyone is off the hook because of my new son," Morton sighed. "But next time anything is to my disliking…"

He placed the baby on the floor, and walked to the center of the room with a casual stroll that would've come off as calm if it came from anyone other than him. But it only seemed frightening, like he was winding up for a huge outburst.

"… I can assure you, nobody in this castle will be able to sleep for the next three months," Morton finished calmly.

Everyone exhaled in relief. Lavisha still looked a tad worried. She watched as the tiny infant crawled about on his own.

"However, we still must name my son," Morton's voice was calm and smooth, but edged with restraint that indicated he was still annoyed. "Any _good_ suggestions?"

"Bowser!" King Boo repeated.

Once again, everything looked terrified.

"I-I think it's a wonderful name," Kammy added.

"King Boo is a tad bit old, even for your taste, is he not?" Morton glared at Kammy.

What he had implied had everyone feeling uncomfortable. Kamek cleared his throat and spoke up to break the silence.

"_I _like the name too," Kamek fretted. "I-Its very evil, don't you think?"

"Hm," Morton said thoughtfully. "Put aside my grudge for the lord of the ghosts, and allow my child to be named Bowser?"

Everyone waited for his response slowly.

"I shall allow it," Morton decided. "But only because it sounds similar to Bruiser, but only even darker."

The room filled with applause and up roaring for the newly named koopaling.

Prince Bowser Koopa.


	2. Company at Dinner

**_For the record, Lavisha's name is a combination of the words lava and lavish. Bowser has a son Morton Jr., so people assume his dad was Morton Sr. Warutive/Waru is as a green koopa is based off Wart, the frog enemy that some assume to be Bowser's brother. Just wanted to clear things up on the fanon names. The canon characters belong to Nintendo, not me._**

Bowser, now at age four, had hair long enough to be put up into a spiky ponytail. He did it to flaunt his mother's least favorite attribute right they both had in front of her face, mad at how much she favored Waru. He was now eight, and still conceited as ever. As for Morton? Still his usual tyrant self, favoring Waru, abusing Lavisha, ignoring Bowser, and ruthlessly firing any koopa staff member that displeased him in the slightest.

When Bowser walked into the dining hall, he found flourishing life, with the whole room more decorated than usual, maids scuttling around frantically, and Lavisha all dressed up.

She'd removed her shell for a black gown accented with red, hair in a complicated updo, makeup overdone to the max. The dress was pretty much representing DarkLandian colors, something she only did when there was a special occasion.

"Bowser, there you are!" she piped up as he entered the room, confusing Bowser. Since when did she care about his whereabouts?

"Our guests are to be here soon, good thing the whole family is present."

So that's why she cared about his presence, she wanted the entire royal family present for some stupid guests. _"Figures, stupid bitch wouldn't notice if I left for three days without a reason."_

Yes, Bowser did curse, and yes, he also went off on his own sometimes. It wasn't like people at home missed him anyways, and he was trained in fighting enough to feel sufficiently safe on his own.

"Did you hear about LavaLand?" Kamek approached Bowser with sadness. When he shook his head in response, he took a difficult sigh and went on.

"Their was an eruption, and it wiped out many of their citizens. Even… the old royal family."

"So who replaced them?"

"Humans."

Bowser instantly stiffened. He _despised _all humankind, and now he was expected to be welcoming to them in his _own home_?

Before he could escape, Waru blocked his path.

"Bro, if I have to endure this, you do too!" he sneered as he mirrored Bowser's every move.

As they moved left and right, Waru blocking each step of Bowser's, and the two caused a maid carrying several plates to stumble. The plates plummeted to the floor as she lost her footing.

"Who was that?!" Morton snarled from across the room. "I swear this staff gets more and more incompetent every day!"

"Don't be upset!" Kamek cried as he blasted a spell to repair the plates.

Morton's anger melted, continuing what he was doing before.

The maid gave Kamek a look of sincere gratitude, seeing as Morton struck staff for mistakes at the least, and executed them on the spot at the worst.

"Sit down you two!" Lavisha grabbed Waru and Bowser each by the wrist, dragging them over to some seats close to the front of the table.

They groaned and took their seats as appetizers were served to them.

Four formally dressed humans, each of them with platinum blonde hair and sun-kissed skin, entered the scene. The maids were asking them ten questions per second, making sure they were seen to. The queen and king shooed them away with upright dignity and haughtiness.

The king sat by Kamek, because Morton looked far from friendly. The queen had that instant socialite connection with Lavisha, the two instantly chattering with gossip and trash talk of other princesses and queens. The prince took a seat by Waru, and started arguing with him about whether sword fighting or claw clashing was more violent.

Finally, the petite little blonde girl took a seat beside Bowser, beaming brightly despite how rudely he scowled at her.

"Hi Prince Bowser!" she chirped, taking a bite of bread. "I'm the new princess of LavaLand! My family used to live in Isle Delfino on a beach mansion, but here we are now!"

_"How the hell does that even work? Not that I care. Geez, some systems are screwed up."_

"Good for you guys, replacing a group of koopas in a kingdom which mostly consists of koopas," Bowser snapped irritably. "Sounds like you'll have smooth sailing ruling that."

She only let out a good-natured laugh in response, her chocolate brown eyes staring into his with no returning rudeness.

"You're annoying to no end," Bowser bared his fangs at her.

"Ooh, your teeth look like dragon teeth, I read a book about a dragon once!" she leaned forward and patted his scaly arm. "Reptile skin feels funny- in a good way!"

"Well, I'm done," Bowser lied as he pushed his plate full of food forward. "See ya guys in about… hopefully never. That includes my own family, not just you new guys."

With that rude remark said and done, Bowser left without even glancing back. He made his way over to the lounge room on the third floor, which was what the kids in his age group liked to use as a hangout spot.

When he got there, the first thing he noticed was a dry bones and a boom boom about his age.

"Bonezy, Buster!" he cried out happily.

"Dude, its Bowser!" Bonezy nudged his friend.

"Oh cool, we were just making fun of the dirt poor whore as usual," Buster informed with a smile.

"Let _me _tease her, its really fun, and I'm probably the meanest of the three of us," Bowser said with an ecstatic smile on his face. Oh how he _loved _belittling the lower class.

"You shut up!" a female voice their age hissed.

In the corner, slouched on a black beanbag, was a koopa girl about their age. She had a magenta shell, dark brown skin, and wavy dark purple hair with black tips at the ends.

"Magenta, who even let you in here?" Bowser teased, summoning his condescending side. "Commoners have to beg for admission to upscale hangout spots, didn't your mother teach you these things?"

While Bonezy and Buster came from families with less high status than royalty, but still considered old money, Magenta was the only child of a single mother working as a maid for the castle's staff. It made her more middle class than poor, but compared to two filthy rich kids and a prince, she might as well have been homeless.

"I swear you spoiled kids are all alike," Magenta groaned. "All you have is lame 'poor' jokes. All the money in the world can't buy you a good roast."

"Magenta, why don't you go help your mom clean or something?" Bonezy shot back. "Poor or not, you're still female!"

"Even more original humor," Magenta dryly shot back, a dull look of annoyance on her face.

"So, did you guys hear about the new chick?" Buster changed the subject when all three of them didn't have another insult. "She's from Cool, Cool, Mountain."

"Oh yeah, Bowser her mom is a friend of the queen," Bonezy added. "Kylie or something? Some paparazzi chick that makes celebrities she likes look slimmer on camera, which is how she befriended your mom. She married a rich dude from Cool, Cool, Mountain and now all three of them are visiting here today."

"Oh, well lets meet her I guess," Bowser shrugged.

As if on cue, someone entered the room. Bonezy and Buster exchanged knowing glances, and they nudged Bowser.

"That's her," they were basically implying. Bowser wasn't stupid, he knew from her appearance that she was from Cool, Cool, Mountain.

She had mint green skin, sky blue hair that was kept back by a white ribbon, frosty blue eyes, and a pale lavender shell that was almost white.

"Hi guys, I'm Silverstone," she introduced herself bashfully, staring at the floor. "I-"

"Look like an albino freak," Bowser finished.

Bonezy and Buster laughed, while Magenta shot them dirty looks.

"N-no," she shook her head rapidly. "I was gonna say I hope everyone is nice, but I see that's already not happening…"

"Ignore those jerk-shells, we can be on good terms," Magenta pushed past them and shook Silverstone's hand. "I'm Magenta, the only one with any damn manners around here."

"If I'm a jerkshell, then your mom is a jerk-o-"

Magenta smacked Bonezy in the face before he could finish jeering.

"Ick, its like bitch slapping the Grim Reaper, all chilly and bony," Magenta made a face of disgust. "Anyways, Silverstone, I'll show you around."

"My friends call me Silvia," she shyly informed.

"Looks like the hobo found a friend in the frostbite freak with the weird eyes," Bowser laughed. "Well, have fun you two! Better to let the odd ones befriend each other, so the normal people know who to avoid."

With that, he left before Magenta could get the last word.

Waru had ditched everyone else at dinner. The prince seriously thought he could use a sword to defeat Waru's claws, an offer he would've taken up to make himself and Morton happy. But Kammy and Lavisha had sternly told him to take a walk and calm down.

At least he didn't have to be in that room full of human chatterboxes anymore.

Further down the hall, he could barely see the shadowy silhouette of movement.

Curious, he retreated into his shell and spun forward. Once he was far enough he sprang up, pointing a wand threateningly in front of him. "Nobody move!"

A concealed figure stepped forward, revealing an unfamiliar koopa girl.

"State your business!" he ordered. He'd seen Morton yell at his subjects enough to know how to be authoritative.

"I'm not looking for trouble, just shelter," the girl meekly responded. "You see, I'm a vagabond."

He looked her up and down. She was a short, slightly chubby girl that had light brown skin, a yellow shell, pink pigtails held up with two yellow scrunches that had pearls in them, and dark pink, almost purple eyes. On either side of her wrists were gold wristbands with multi-colored jewels on them.

"You don't look like one to me," Waru sneered.

"I'm Starla," she introduced. "I was pronounced dead in the recent eruption of LavaLand. I'm seven years old and… used to be the princess. But if I return, I'll be considered a clone and killed on the spot."

"Who's threatening you?" Waru decided to further question her, she was a stranger after all.

"That's beside the point, I can't return," she sighed. "Just blast me with your wand. I have nothing left in the world anyways."

"Hey, I'm better with combat, my brother is the nerd who spends time with Kamek," Waru put his wand back into his shell. "I'd probably miss and take out every expensive item in the hall anyways. Plus…"

She hopefully looked up at him, eyes pleading.

"My parents knew the old family, maybe they would let you hide here for the rest of your life?" Waru offered.

He didn't have any reason to be nice to her, but then, he didn't have any reason to be mean either. Offering her a place to crash had surprised himself if anything, but with such a large castle to live in, why not invite a helpless girl to stay when she'd be dead elsewhere?

"Of course!" the girl cheered. "I would deeply appreciate that. Thank you form the bottom of my heart!"

This girl was so sweet, it made Waru sick. She was everything his dad taught him not to be. But then, it was nice to meet someone kind of different.

Lavisha and Kammy were pretty much the only females he knew that used manners. Girls his age liked to be feisty and hot-tempered, as if being frisky made them cool or something. Magenta did it in a defensive way to counter her bullying, but all the other girls had a choice. This Starla girl willingly chose to be sweet and courteous.

"C'mon, I'll hide you for now," he left out the fact that the new royal family was over. That news would just hit a sensitive spot if anything. "My parents are busy. But trust me, as the firstborn and favorite, you _will _be allowed to stay here if that's what _I_ desire."


End file.
